The Internet age has spawned
entire battalions of home chefs trying to achieve restaurant-quality meals
at home. The Anova Precision Cooker
allows them to cook sous vide, a technique where food is vacuum-packed,
then heated to a precise temperature in
a water bath. With sous vide, cooks can
heat steaks to a specific doneness before
finishing them off with a quick pan sear.
The Anova Precision Cooker clamps to
the side of a medium pot and heats the
water to the temperature set on the unit
itself or through a connected smartphone app, which also provides temperature guides to get a steak cooked
anywhere from rare to well done. The
unit doesn’t provide any vacuum-sealing
components, but it appears to achieve
decent results with food placed in a sealable plastic bag clipped to the side of the
pot. ( anovaculinary.com, $149 and up)